Verhalen over donatie en transplantatie

Het leven doorgeven: in grote dankbaarheid aanvaard.

The organdonation of Basje

On friday the doctors tried to wake up Bas. We did not believe they would succeed in waking him up because his pupils had been widened for several days. There was clearly some cerebral porcess going on.

On saturday a brainscan was executed and it was clear that there was a lot of diffuse braindamag, probably as a result of the problems with his bloodpressure and the resuscitations he needed.There was barely no brainactivity.Then we realised that the story of outr little boy would end here and in our heads we said goodbye to our child. The EEG, executed on monday only confirmed what was already clear for some days.

Bas always wanted us to know that he would not want to live if anything would have gone wrong with his brain, since he himself was well aware of the dangers involved in the operation and we talked about it with our little boy. His intelligence and speed of mind were his strongest assets.

In the last meeting with the doctors, the question rose naturally: ' can he still be a donor for his organs'. For a moment everyone went silent...then there was a slight smile on the face of Porf. dr; Van Cleemput : 'Of course he can. His kidneys, lungs and liver are healthy.'

That night we drove home in silence: our little child was dead and just waited on ventilation to give away his organs.

Next morning we received a phonecall to tell us that there was a match for the liver. For kidney and lungs they were still looking for a match.

I drove back to the hospital and together with the nurse, I washed my little boy with a nicely scented soap, I washed his beautiful white hair, kissed him all over his body for I no longer needed to wear gloves, mouthmasks, protection clothes...

A short moment of administration followed and the doctor in charge of the paperwork said : ' I will never forget this'. A very emotional moment in which you realize that your child is special.

Then his brother and dad came in to say goodbye. It was silent and calm in the room. We held his hand, whispered something in his ear, touched him...we sent our love thoughout his vains al the way up to his sick heart. We loved him so much, our little FIFA-champion, our little wiseguy, our walking encyclopedia, ...We hugged him, caressed his little legs with lots of white hair on them... our little boy-scout, Max' little brother. A few hours later dad and Max left and a friend came along to stand by me when we took our little hero to theatre, for the very last time...

The people of ' Eurotransplant' waited at the door, ready to receive the organs. ' Are you the mother?', someone said. ' Thank you for this gift of life.' I will never forget these words, not even when I lie dribbling and sobbing, lost in time in my elderly days.

I kissed my hero goodbye, the biggest kiss ever, and wished him a good trip to Adriaan, his friend.

Goodbye, Bas. You received life, you gave life.

Gunther

I hope that I found the right path out of the woods, because it has been a heavy time, those seven years on the waiting list. I have big scars now, but none of them is as deep as the scar my donorfamily has to face while missing their beloved one. My gratefulness towards my donor's family is endless.